Demanding Justice

Ask your senator to vote for S. 178, The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act!

Bipartisan S. 178, The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act works to fight human trafficking by reducing demand for sex trafficking, providing more services for victims, depriving convicted offenders of criminal assets and using forfeited assets to satisfy restitution orders for victims, and giving law enforcement more and better tools to fight sex trafficking.

Read the section-by-section analysis of the bill

Dear Senator,

As your constituent, I urge you to vote for bipartisan S. 178, The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act. S. 178 works to fight human trafficking by reducing demand for sex trafficking, providing more services for victims, depriving convicted offenders of criminal assets and using forfeited assets to satisfy restitution orders for victims, and giving law enforcement more and better tools to fight sex trafficking. The bill includes a range of improvements to existing law, including three key changes that are especially important to the fight against the sex trafficking of children:

1. Clarifies current law and codifies court decisions that the conduct of buyers who “solicit” and “patronize” commercial sex with a child are committing the crime of sex trafficking. Buyers of sex acts with children fuel the sex trafficking markets; without demand, traffickers will lose their profits and countless children will be spared the horrors of sexual exploitation.

2. Authorizes state and local law enforcement to obtain wiretaps in state courts, without federal approval, to investigate trafficking and CSEC offenses more effectively.

3. To hold predators accountable, the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act would require certain federal offenders to pay an additional special assessment of $5,000 upon conviction for child sexual exploitation, human trafficking and other related crimes. Based upon the latest data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission, this additional special assessment would apply to more than 16,200 offenders per year, accounting for at least $31 million in obligated assessments, which would not be payable until all outstanding orders of restitution and other criminal fines are paid in full by the offender.

If you have already co-sponsored the JVTA, thank you! If not, don’t miss the opportunity to vote yes on this critical piece of legislation that will save lives.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

[Your Address]

[City, State ZIP]

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